The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reacted to the move by President Muhammadu Buhari to totally implement the Executive Order 6.

The party urged Nigerians to reject the attempt by the President Muhammadu Buhari to foist a full-blown fascism on the nation beginning with the placement of travel restrictions on 50 Nigerians.

The presidency had on Saturday announced that it would impose travel ban on 50 high-profile persons.

According to the PDP, the step was clearly targeted at members of the opposition parties, perceived political enemies of the President, well-meaning Nigerians, including members of the business community, religious leaders, former political leaders and traditional rulers, who are perceived to be aversed to President Buhari’s re-election bid.

The opposition party, in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Saturday said the development was “a direct clampdown on our democratic order and an overthrow of rights of our citizenry as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”

PDP’s statement added, “We hope this is not a ploy to harm certain eminent Nigerians on the claims of resisting travel restrictions.

“The whole world can now see how fascism is fast taking over our democracy and judicial system and how the Buhari administration, by fiat, has directly ordered that citizens be secretly trailed, their movements and financial transactions restricted by government agencies, without recourse to due process of the law.

“While the PDP notes that the Buhari Presidency has gone into panic mode since the popular emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as PDP Presidential candidate and the spontaneous jubilation his emergence has evoked across the country, the party maintains that the resort to total clamp down on the opposition and our supporters will be totally unacceptable.

“What this means is that all Nigerians, particularly, opposition members, members of the business community and religious leaders, have become endangered and stand the risk of state violence under the All Progressives Congress, APC, administration.

“The PDP alerts the international community to hold the Presidency responsible should any harm befall any opposition leader, key members of the business community and religious leaders across the country as we march towards the 2019 general elections.”